Oolite Bulletins

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:30 am

arquebus wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:48 am

Good to know about SW economy's impact on quantities! I'll bear that in mind.

Here is a synopsis of some of the changes (see SW Economy for Stranger's Essay on what he's done and why).

Useful info! I will most likely not remember it. But it's good to know and I'll be sure to mention it!

I'm now up to 7 episodes, and in 6 and 7 I start actually doing interesting things! Episode 7 ends in disappointment, though, because I couldn't figure out how to get the black box from a derelict ship for a mission. Turns out I need to destroy the ship, but I don't have weapons, so I'll have to go back out from the last save when I start recording episode 8. (This is not a "bug report" or complaint, just something amusing. I probably didn't read the mission text carefully enough!)

Also, when I went back to the black box derelict to test my theory that I needed to shoot it, it was a different ship and this time my tow bar did try to grab it... and it blew up. Nearly took me out with it, too.

Fun times!

FWIW, the "Debug position" waypoint noted in the video for one of the investigation missions (from GalCop Missions OXP) isn't a bug per se, but a debug flag left set to "True" in the current release. I've got a fix in the works and should have a new version out shortly.

arquebus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:50 am

I'm now up to 7 episodes...

Fun times!

Arquebus, thank you for taking the trouble to do these. I am finding them very informative.

As we all do, I have my own playing style, and end up being quite ignorant of how others play. I find that watching you play, and more importantly, hearing your off-hand comments about what you think about things and how you conceive them, is opening my eyes to how others might view the game.

It is a much-needed reminder of how much information there is about Oolite and the oxp's, and of the amount that has to be mastered in order to enjoy it.

Thanks! It's no trouble to make them (well, episode 2 was trouble...) since I get to play Oolite while doing it!

I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game so far, but it's a lot of fun figuring it all out.

arquebus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:48 pm

Thanks! It's no trouble to make them (well, episode 2 was trouble...) since I get to play Oolite while doing it!

I know I've barely scratched the surface of the game so far, but it's a lot of fun figuring it all out.

Good!

Commentary on Film #4

*One more point on the money-grubbing end of things: luxuries and medicine don't weigh, so if you have spare dosh and a full hold, you can buy them up too, and increase your profit even further!

*K on your compass is a Kiota station. Also in Stranger's World it is a KOS station. Various versions. KOS-M is a mining station.

The ship you almost ran into was a Deep Space dredger. Good prices selling alloys, gems etc, good prices buying booze and food - and sometimes medicines. You need ILS to dock with them.

Hi arquebus,

Watched some of these and enjoyed: well done. I think you said you were an impatient player but it works in your favour here I believe as often the viewer is less enthused than the creator (something I'd do well to remember with some of my posts...) You always seem to keep things moving at a good pace.

It was also nice to see some oxps in action that I hadn't used before. I expect I'll watch the rest of them, thanks.

I appreciate that, Redspear! I know the videos are ridiculously long so I try not to have a lot of dead air. I actually end up with a lot of dead air in episode 7 and it stressed me out.

Cholmondely, yeah, I keep forgetting that luxuries and medicines don't require tonnage. They seem like the sort of thing that would be heavy! Or would at least be shipped in bulk.

I'll have to investigate the Kiota stations, I've seen them around but don't know anything about them. And I've never landed on a ship before, so I'll go grab the ILS when I can and start doing that. There's just so much to do...!

Oh and someone made a comment on ep 1 that for some reason isn't showing up on YouTube, so I can't reply there. He suggested that he could check the log file and possibly find which OXP is causing the stutter in my game. Is that a reasonable thought? Is there something I could look for in the log file?

arquebus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 10:54 pm

Oh and someone made a comment on ep 1 that for some reason isn't showing up on YouTube, so I can't reply there. He suggested that he could check the log file and possibly find which OXP is causing the stutter in my game. Is that a reasonable thought? Is there something I could look for in the log file?

Diagnosing Problems
Question: Someone asked me for my log file. What is that, and where is it?
Answer: While Oolite runs, various diagnostic information is written to a file called Latest.log. Where it is depends on your operating system:

Mac OS X: Restart Oolite, and select “Show Previous Log” from the “Oolite” menu in the menu bar. Alternatively, in the Finder, select “Go to Folder…” from the Go menu, and enter “~/Library/Logs/Oolite/”, and find Latest.log.

Windows: in Oolite’s folder (typically in C:\Oolite), there is a folder called oolite.app, which contains a folder called Logs. A shortcut to this folder is created at Oolite's Start Menu entries during installation. If you have installed the game in a folder subject to file virtualization like C:\Program Files\Oolite and encounter difficulty in locating the log files, then please refer to the Known Issues section of this FAQ for information on how to access them.

Linux and other Unix-like systems: ~/.Oolite/Logs (that is, in the hidden folder .Oolite in your home folder). If you’re using Nautilus or Konqueror—if you’ve never heard of them, you probably are—select Show Hidden Files from the View menu.

Oh I know where to get the log, the question I have is whether it's reasonable for me to think I can find the culprit OXP that way, if indeed there is one.

I'd send it along to the YouTube commenter if I could, but I can't because the comment doesn't show up on the site, only in my email, so I can't reply to it!

arquebus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:37 pm

Oh I know where to get the log, the question I have is whether it's reasonable for me to think I can find the culprit OXP that way, if indeed there is one.

It also helps if you have Norby's LogEvents.oxp installed, as it adds more information into your latest.log to help those trying to work out what went pear-shaped! LogEvents is on the in-game Expansions Manager. And latest log only lasts until you play a new game, when it becomes previous log. When you start up a second game it is then consigned to Cody's Witchspace Lobster!

Colours on your scanner (Telescope uses the same colours for lightballs/ distant dots):

White: unpowered object (asteroids/cargo etc)
Yellow: powered ship (neutral... or possibly just pretending to be)
Green: Station/dockable ship
Red: Enemy - somebody targeting you (includes pirates, Thargoids, assassins when they target you, etc )

Purple: Police/Navy

You seem to have already worked out the top 4.

When you misjumped into witchspace/interstellar space in Episode5, the enemy Red Thargoids targeting you were involved in a bunfight with the Purple Navy who ignored you.

More detail is here

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:07 am

Purple: Police/Navy

You seem to have already worked out the top 4.

When you misjumped into witchspace/interstellar space in Episode5, the enemy Red Thargoids targeting you were involved in a bunfight with the Purple Navy who ignored you.

Yeah, purple is the one I didn't know, but it makes sense. That's definitely what happened in that misjump space.

Emergency Hull Repairs:

From the Battle Damage oxp

When your shields are gone, your opponents' lasers are directly hitting your hull, but in the 'core' game this has no obvious impact or repercussions. This OXP adds this 'realism' into the game by causing damage to your ship's hull, which if not repaired promptly will lead to problems such as fuel leaks and mis-jumps.
If you take an un-shielded hit, a console message will alert you to the fact with a warning:- 'WARNING! HULL DAMAGE' and further hits will be notified with another console message:- 'Hull taking further damage'.
Upon docking, someone will point out this damage to you and urge you to have emergency repairs made at the Ship Outfitters (F3).
Here you will find 'Emergency Hull Repairs' offered for 75Cr. These repairs are fairly basic and consist of new Duralium plates welded over the damaged areas to ensure structural integrity and airtightness where needed. Repairs will take around six to eight hours of game time, after which your ship will be spaceworthy again.
If you are offered a Maintenance Overhaul, this WILL include any emergency repairs. 'Emergency Hull Repairs' will also be offered, so you can still make repairs even if you wish to defer the Overhaul at this time. Choose one or the other.
Any damaged equipment will need to be repaired seperately.

If you do not have repairs made, you may experience mis-jumps or fuel leaks as a consequence of the damage. If you launch damaged the station staff will sometimes overlook this if the damage is not too severe although you may be reminded about the damage when you next dock. Sometimes the station you are leaving will point out the damage but let you go on your way, or you may encounter problems on launching and be urged to re-dock immediately for repairs, and you might even get a telling-off from one of the Dock officials and a small fine.